Reversible latch



jecting stud on a lever or some movable part UNITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

CHARLES H. MONTGOMERY, OF BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT.

REVERSIBLE LATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 350,691, dated October 12, 1886.

Application filed August 30, 1886. Serial No. 212,144. (No model.)

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. MONTGOM- ERY, of Brant'ord, in the count-y of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Reverihle Latches; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, an inside view of the latch portion of the case; Fig. 2, a vertical central section through the slide, showing the friction-spring.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of reversible latches in which the tail of the bolt is engaged with a laterally-proof the latch mechanism, and from which stud the tail, when free, may be removed and the latch turned for either a right or left hand door, and then replaced upon the stud, and is an improvement upon the latch for which Letters Patent N o. 39, 280 were granted July 21, 1863.

To hold the tail of the latch upon the stud, the case is provided with a slide working in the plane of the tail of the latch, and so as to be moved to a position upon the side of the tail opposite the stud, and when so set upon the tail the bolt, while free to be moved, cannot escape from its engagement with the stud, but by drawing the slide away from the tail the bolt is free to be removed or reset.

The class of latches to which my invention specially relates is usually what are called rini-latchesthat is to say, a case adapted to be fitted upon the surface of the door in contradistinction to a mortise-latch constructed to be set into a mortise in the edge of the door.

.In illustrating my invention 1 show only the latch mechanism. A represents the case, in which the bolt B is arranged, its tail 0 extending rearward, with a hole near its rear end corresponding to a stud, D, on the slide or lever E, as the case may be, which is actuated by the knob-spindle working through the hub F. This construction is common and well known. WVhen it is desired to reverse the latch, the tail is turned laterally to take it from the stud D, and so as to permit the bolt to be withdrawn for reversal, and when rcturnedt the tail is again set over the stud D. Through the top of the case a slide, G, is arranged, extending downward, and so as to lap upon the side of the tail of the latch opposite the stud. The upper end of the slide extends through the case in the form of a handle, H, and has a slot corresponding to the width of the slide G. The slide is supported upon astud, I, fixed in the case and extending through a slot, J, in the slide, and so that the slide may be raised from the tail, as indicated in broken lines, to leave the bolt free to be reversed; but when the slide is down, its upper end below the handle stands inside the case, and in that condition the slide is free to be turned backward or forward upon the stud I as a pivot. On the forward edge of the slide is a projection, K, which normally stands above a shoulder, L, on the head of the latch, as seen in Fig. 1. Now, if when the bolt is out, as seen in Fig. 1, the slide G be turned forward, as indicated in broken lines, the projection K will come down in rear of the shoulder L on the bolt and there stand in the path of the bolt, and so as to prevent its being drawn into the case, thus holding the latch bolt securely locked against possible action of its pivot to release the latch. The sliding handle upon the top of the case with the slot in the caseindicates that the movement of that handle forward or backward will lock the latch-bolt, and no one would naturally think of drawing the handle upward when the latch was attached to the door, so that there is no liability of the slide being drawn away from the tail of the bolt, so as to permit accidental displacement of the latch-bolt. The movement of the slide is only necessary in appl ing the latch to the door. \Vhen once applied, there is no further occasion for raising it; but as a preventive of any such action one of the fastening-screws is introduced through a hole, M, in the case above the extension K when the slide is in the down position, and so that the screw thus introduced as a means of se curing the lock will prevent the possible raising of the slide, and so that when on the door it can only receive its oscillating movement upon its own pivot.

As a frictional device to prevent accidental oscillation of the slide, I arrange a spring, N, (see Fig. 2,) in one side of the slide around the pivot, and so as to bear the slide against (No Model.)

T. L. MUMFORD & H. MOORE.

COMBINED STEEL TIE, RAIL FASTENING, 8:0.

No. 350,692. Patentefl Oct. 12, 1886.

Tmssng k;

ATTORNEYS. 

